THE grieving widow of a popular football manager and Caia Park man has blasted the vandals who have disturbed his grave.

Kelly Ford, widow of FC Queens Park manager Martin Ford whose sudden death aged 39, on May 7 shocked and stunned Wrexham and the wider North Wales football community, says his family is appalled items at his grave have been tampered with and removed.

Mr Ford was buried at Plas Acton Cemetery in Pandy after his funeral took place at St Giles' Church on May 23, an event which saw Wrexham town centre packed with mourners creating a sea of red.

But on Tuesday members of his family where shocked and angered to find lights and flowers moved, and items pulled from out of the soil at his grave.

Mrs Ford said: "Martin's sister and his dad Paul went there to visit on Tuesday as he is buried next to his best friend Luke, and it had all been left nice for him.

"We'd put a fence in, lights, artificial flowers but at 4pm I got a call from them to say everything had been disturbed, the fence had been removed and taken apart, the flowers moved.

"We had a picture of the Wrexham Leader from when he was on the front-page which was held down with stones.

"That had been moved and the stones pushed into the top soil.

"I'd buried a can of Stella into the soil as it was his favourite and that had been pulled out.

"One of his nieces had put a windmill on there and that was removed too."

She added: "I was shocked and fuming.

"It's all been put right now and we've contacted the funeral directors to see if there is any CCTV cameras nearby that might have caught it happening and are waiting to hear back.

"This has angered a lot of people because Martin's so well-loved, the amount of friends and family he has is amazing.

"I don't understand who would do this, it must be someone very nasty or jealous and I hope Martin haunts them.

"We're hoping this is a one-off and by getting the message out there, it won't happen again."

Mr Ford gained recognition for his football achievements, founding FC Queens Park in 2013, taking them to the second-tier of Welsh football and giving youngsters from the estate a chance to play football they would not otherwise have had.

He was also a talented musician, playing in a number of bands and was father to young daughter Summer.